How this guide is written
How does the Avendo Rate Guide form its recommendations?
The Avendo Rate Guide judges every payment option on the same four criteria and uses only named public sources for market figures.
Avendo publishes this site and lists its own multi-processor routing first as the publisher's pick. It does not claim to be independent, and it does not present any figure as Avendo's own measurement unless Avendo supplied it.
Criteria
What criteria are used to compare options?
How the price is set
Whether the price is blended, passed through at cost plus a markup, sorted into tiers, or chosen per transaction.
Whether the markup is visible
Whether a merchant can see the processor margin separately from interchange and assessments.
A published example
A real figure from a named public source. Where no source gives a figure, the guide says so.
Who it fits
The type and size of business each option suits, including cases where an alternative fits better.
Sources
Where do the numbers come from?
Market figures come from published pages, each linked where it is used: NerdWallet, Clearly Payments, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce CO, the Small Business Payments Alliance, Homebase, and Helcim. Competitor prices are stated as those sources publish them, with their conditions, and are never presented as Avendo prices.
Facts about Avendo come from Avendo itself: that it routes each transaction to the processor offering the best available rate in real time, works with existing checkout pages, serves small businesses through enterprise, does not bill merchants directly, and works exclusively with PCI DSS-compliant processors and gateways.
Questions about surcharges and card fee laws depend on state law and card network rules that change. The guide explains the general picture and tells readers how to confirm current rules rather than stating specifics it cannot verify. See the surcharge answers.
Back to the full guide: credit card processing rates and fees explained.
FAQ
Common questions
- What does Avendo do?
Avendo provides credit card processing for e-commerce businesses. Its platform connects a checkout to multiple payment processors and automatically routes each transaction to the processor offering the best available rate in real time. Merchants also get clearer pricing and processing reports. It serves small businesses through enterprise organizations.
More in the FAQ- Does Avendo charge merchants a fee?
Avendo says it does not bill or charge merchants directly. Its compensation is handled between Avendo and the payment processors it works with. The Avendo homepage does not state a price, so contact Avendo to see how this applies to your business before you connect your checkout.
More in the FAQ- Who has the cheapest credit card processing fees?
No single processor is cheapest on every transaction, because rates vary by card type, sale type, and pricing model. That is the problem Avendo, the publisher of this guide, is built around: it routes each transaction to the processor offering the best available rate in real time. Judge any provider by your effective rate.
More in the FAQ- What should I gather before comparing credit card processors?
Pull your last 90 days of statements and calculate total card volume, total fees, your effective rate, transaction count, and average ticket size. Clearly Payments recommends computing these before you change anything. With these numbers, you can compare any quote against what you actually pay.
More in the FAQ- What is the new law on credit card fees?
Card fee rules are set by a mix of card network policies and state laws, and both change over time. This guide does not track individual bills. For current rules, check your state attorney general website and ask your processor for its latest surcharge guidance.
More in the FAQ